Victim says city needs to improve its safety procedures

Bob Murphy is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a CBC News reporter in the Maritime provinces for more than two decades. He has investigated everything from workplace deaths to unsolved crimes and government scandals.

One in ten decks fails inspection in the Halifax Regional Municipality, statistics obtained by CBC News show, but experts say the percentage is likely much higher.

The data covers a one-year period beginning Sept. 20, 2013, two days before a deck collapsed in Dartmouth, injuring 15 people.

Victim calls for better inspection regime

"I've seen better maintenance in other cities," she says. "I think that maybe they should do more of a background check on who is doing it [building the deck] and have inspectors there as the deck is being built so they know what's there."

A building permit expires after two years. Homeowners are supposed to call the city when they are ready to have their work inspected. But in some cases, the deck is being used for months before that happens.

"We're hoping to put in a process where we're catching things before the permit expires," says Covey. "We're going to do a drive-by and if it appears it's being occupied then we may approach that owner, the applicant, to see if they ready to have a final inspection or if they're occupying the deck."